Designing Short Assignments: SON Workshop

I. Efficiency Analysis of Assignments

Learning develops best in courses where writing accounts for at least 25% of the final grade. Some revision is crucial. But written coursework is more efficient if you:

· Assign shorter, multiple writing tasks instead of a lengthy formal paper

· Include intermittent, brief, informal writing exercises that “feed into” formal assignments

· Design assignments that give detailed information on what you expect

· Provide models of what a successful assignment should look like

· Devote class time to get students started

· Require students to submit work at an early stage (e.g., a prospectus, abstract, research question plus thesis)

· Provide specific written feedback on drafts (try boilerplate and minimal marking; don’t line-edit!)

· Create rubrics that echo the criteria—and use rubrics to guide (1) advice-centered peer reviews or (2) revision in lieu of written feedback

· Hold group conferences

· Assign collaborative papers

· Provide whole-class response to common drafting problems

· Give the Writing Center copies of the assignment and a model paper—and tell students to make a timely appointment

· Put minimal comments on finished papers

Adapted from Bean, Engaging Ideas

II. Example 1: Nine Critical Thinking Exercises

The following two-part exercise is one of nine Critical Thinking Exercises that first-semester nursing students must answer. Each exercise accompanies the concept being studied that week:

1. A 66 year-old male has been admitted to the nursing unit with CHF (congestive heart failure). The physician has ordered oxygen via nasal cannula at a flow rate of 6 L/min. You note that the client continues to be restless, his pulse rate and respiratory rate are increased, and he continues to breathe through his mouth. He keeps pulling the cannula out, complaining that it’s uncomfortable and stating that “no one can breathe with this in their nose”. What actions would you take? What is your rationale?

2. You are caring for a client one day post operatively following abdominal surgery. On your morning assessment, you obtain the following vital sign data: BP 142/80, pulse 84, respirations 12 and shallow, temperature 100.4° F. Pain is well controlled on PCA morphine, breath sounds are diminished at the bases with a few crackles, O2 at 93 %. Based on this information, what problems/or potential problems can you identify? How will you individualize your plan of care for this client?

The following is a “model answer” to #2:

This patient’s systolic BP is slightly high, her pulse is normal, her temperature is at the high end of normal, but the thing that strikes my immediate attention is her shallow respiration rate of 12 breaths per minute, also the patient’s diminished breath sounds at the base, crackles, and relatively low O2 saturation. These assessments would all raise the question; is this patient receiving enough oxygen? The main problem right now would be impaired gas exchange that has the potential to progress and worsen the client’s condition. She seems to be having a deficit of oxygenation. My main concern in developing a care plan for this patient would be to improve her gas exchange, therefore improving her respiration depth and oxygen saturation. Since this person is recovering from abdominal surgery her abdominal muscles are most likely weak therefore making her ability to take deep breaths more difficult than usual. Therefore I might have her sit up and support her stomach with a pillow and have her take some deep breaths, if she can tolerate it. I would also pay close attention to the patient’s crackles and slightly elevated temperature, as these could be early signs of pneumonia. This could lead to a more serious problem with impaired gas exchange. If the patient produced any sputum I would evaluate it, and/or send it to the lab to be tested. If the client’s fever got any higher I would also order a chest x-ray. But my action as for right now would be to raise the bed to allow for complete lung expansion, encourage deep breathing while supporting her abdomen, and encouraging her to cough and release some sputum that is causing the crackles in her lungs. Also, since she is on a PCA morphine this narcotic could be contributing to her shallow, slow respiration rate. I would get an order to take her off of the PCA and get pain medication administered orally, so that I could see if her respiration rate went back up after the drug was stopped for a little. I would still be concerned with keeping this woman’s pain at a manageable level and administering pain medication as it was needed. Depending on the results of the above actions I would move on from there in developing a more appropriate, focused care plan. (386 words)

Workshop Questions:

1. What features of this assignment seem especially helpful to the student?

2. How could the professor cut the paper load for this assignment?

3. How might the assignment be changed to make feedback—or perhaps revision—easier?

4. What instructional uses might the “model answer” serve?

5. What kinds of reflection might be added to this exercise?

6. How could the “Nine Critical Thinking Exercises” be shaped into a portfolio submission?

III. Example 2: Major Nursing Care Plan

PATIENT PROFILE DATABASE: Refer to pg. 21 in the Schuster book on Concept Mapping. Every patient must have the laboratory data included on p. 21 as well as: red blood cells, sodium, BUN, creatinine, magnesium. Be sure to include all the laboratory data listed on page 21 in the text.

Explain why your patient’s lab values/diagnostic tests are abnormal. List the medication, classification and reason for the mediation. Hand in drug cards only when passing medications.

CONCEPT MAP: Develop a concept map. Use the patient’s primary problem as the circle in the middle. The patient’s nursing diagnoses/problem should evolve from the primary problem. Draw lines of connection among the diagnoses/problem to indicate how they are related. Refer to pg. 73 or pg. 115 in the Schuster book.

NURSING CARE PLAN: List all the major nursing diagnoses, nursing goal, nursing interventions, nursing evaluation associated with the patient’s care. You need to have at least on physical and one psychosocial nursing diagnosis.

SELF EVALUATION: Evaluate your performance utilizing the course objectives found on the clinical evaluation tool. Were you able to meet your goals identified the previous week? How would you evaluate your preparation, ability to verbalize scientific rationale, professionalism, communication (written and verbal), and use of the nursing process. This should be insightful and demonstrate meaningful reflection of the day. Last, identify your goals for the next week.

Concept Map and Major Nursing Care Plan Rubric:

PATIENT DATA BASE 20 points__________

· Data base is complete

· Appropriate lab. data listed and explained

· Appropriate diagnostics listed and explained

· Medications and actions of drugs listed

CONCEPT MAP

20 points __________

· Major concept identified

· Appropriate relationship between concepts

· Appropriate subconcepts identified

NURSING DIAGNOSES 10 points ____________

· Stated correctly

· Objective & subjective data

· Individualized to patient

PATIENT OUTCOMES

5 points ___________

· Goal identified

· Patient oriented

· Time frame

· Measurable

NURSING INTERVENTIONS 15 points ___________

· Thorough

· Concise

· Specific (what, when, where, how)

· Prioritized

· Individualized to patient

RATIONALE 15 points ___________

· Rationale for each intervention

· Thorough

EVALUATION 10 points _____________

· Evaluates whether goals are achieved

· Develop interventions, if necessary

· Describe conclusion

SOURCES 2.5 points ____________

· Includes sources in careplan

· Include complete reference of source

FORMAT 2.5 points _____________

· Neat, legible and staple

· Follows format

Workshop Questions:

1. What features of this assignment seem especially helpful to the student?

2. How feasibly could this assignment be converted into a student-team project—and what would be the advantages/disadvantages of requiring a collaborative paper?

3. How representative of nursing practice would a collaborative paper be?

4. What changes would the professor need to make to turn this assignment into a collaborative paper?

5. How might the self-evaluation be revised and assigned so that each student-team member demonstrated satisfactory completion of course objectives and personal contributions to the project?

6. What considerations would faculty have to make in accepting a collaborative paper as a portfolio submission?

IV. Example 3: Nursing Theorist

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assist the student to explore the initial steps of the theory and practice of nursing by examining a nursing theorist.

Content:

1. The student will select a nurse theorist. The instructor must approve this choice as no more than two students can select the same theorist.

2. The student will write an outline of the literature reviewed.

A. The student will complete a search for information related to the theorist.

B. The student will read the information gathered.

C. The student will organize the information collected.

3. The student will develop a scholarly paper that includes the following sections:

A. Introduction: Overview of the nurse theorist: What were the contributions? Why is this theory of any value? What is the significance of this theory?

B. Background/Historical Perspective: Develop the nurse theorist as a real person. Where was she raised? What are her personal values? Where did this person attend school?

C. Theory: Define and explain the nursing theory.

D. Summary: General overall summary of the paper. Is this theory implemented in nursing practice today? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this theory? As a result of this literature review, what have you, the writer, realized? How can you implement this in your current practice?

E. References: List all references (minimum of three) that were cited within the paper in APA format.

General Guidelines:

For paper:

1. Limit paper to five (5) pages of text (Title page and reference do not count.)

2. Follow APA guidelines with 1” margins and doubled spaced. Staple paper in the upper left-hand corner.

For presentation:

1. Be creative as well as educational.

2. Limit presentation to no more that 10 minutes.

Evaluation of Nursing Theorist Paper Evaluation:

Total Possible Points = 100

· Introduction (15%) 15 points:

· Background/ History of theorist (15%) 15 points:

· Theory (25%) 20 points:

· Summary (15%) 20%:

· Format (15%) 15 points:

-APA Format

-Grammar and Spelling

-Structure and Organization

Evaluation of Nursing Theorist Presentation:

· Total Possible Points = 50

· Clarity (20%) 10 points

· Organization (20%) 10 points

· Creativity (20%) 10 points

· Information Shared (40%) 20 points

-Overview of the Nurse Theorist (5 points)

-Theory Explanation (7 points)

-Implementation into your Practice (8 points)

Workshop Questions:

1. What features of this assignment seem especially helpful to the student?

2. How practically could this assignment be turned into a series of multiple short assignments—and what might be the advantages/ disadvantages?

3. Where would revision strategically benefit the student most, if this assignment were converted into a series of shorter ones?

4. Would it be necessary for the theorist presentation to occur after the project was completed? If not, why?

5. How—and where—might peer review fit into this project?

6. Why would—or wouldn’t—it be acceptable to submit a “split up” paper to the portfolio? Or would it be acceptible only to submit a portion (e.g., the summary)?

V. Suggested Breakout Activity

Please put yourself into groups of 3-4. You may want to choose to form groups of faculty who teach courses at the same level objectives in the nursing program. Or you may want to group yourselves among those who teach at different level objectives. Elect someone to keep notes and please do the following:

1. Consider a writing assignment you require in one of your courses—an assignment that you feel you need to shorten in some way, or replace with a shorter assignments or exercises.

2. OR... if you teach a course where you do not currently assign writing, consider how you might integrate informal writing exercises that could help students maintain practice for writing tasks in other courses.

3. Talk about the impact writing tasks in your

classes might have on program objectives

and the nursing portfolio.

4. When everyone in your group has finished

sharing ideas, sum up at least three points

or questions your group raised.

If time permits, it would be useful for a spokesperson in each group to share the three points they felt were particularly important with the rest of the workshop participants.